Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Bella and I visited My American in Omak, the almost-halfway point between Spokane and Kelowna. On the way back, I convinced our little girl it would be fun to take the long way home.

She isn’t quite excited by that idea yet, but this road trip was better than others because, well, LAKES.

I suspect Maremma sheepdogs are forever thirsty and, whenever they see a lake, all they think is “THE BIGGEST WATER BOWL EVER!”

Once we jump off Hwy 97 at Tonasket, we wind along Loomis-Oroville Road, which is dotted with lakes — a sure paradise for the recreational fisherman.

The Chopaka mountains stand strong to the west as we make our way to Nighthawk, a once-bustling mining town abandoned like so many others dotting the Washington landscape.

I suspect, however, the folks at Nighthawk have become accustomed to weirdos like me, poking around the old buildings, and they hide away. Both times I’ve visited, someone was milling about but by the time I parked the truck, only the Australian shepherd cross was there to greet me and happily accept some ear scritches.

I promised the pup I would only stay for five minutes and take nothing except pictures. He seemed OK with that, really more fascinated with talking to Bella who poked her head out the truck window to see what was up.

I posted the picture of the old brothel in the last story on Nighthawk but here she is again … because the best stories have to come from the house of ill repute, right?

The house, behind which horses feed on grass, was built in 1903, as was the Nighthawk hotel:

And there’s this little cabin:

Across the street, I spy my favourite part of the journey.

Whenever I line up a similar shot, I think “Death Row.”

My heart jumps a little with every whisper of wind, since I don’t want to get yelled at again. I long for someone to make an appearance so we could chat and I could learn what it’s like to live here.

But no one comes.

I head down the little dirt road to the Kaaba Texas Mine, but old mining buildings seem less interesting to me than the places where life and love happened.

There’s probably even more to see at Nighthawk, but I think I have to satisfy myself with what I’ve seen for now.

Lately I keep seeing new things even if I’ve been to the spot a hundred times. I think it’s important to get out of your routines. Maybe you go to a place because you like a certain thing about it, and that’s great, but trying to look around with fresh eyes and find a few new things is great too. I do need to get out and travel more. Just tried to start financing a new Japan trip, so hopefully that happens!

Beautiful pictures. My family has lived in the Nighthawk area since the 1880’s. My father owns the old cars lined up and the hotel. We do not hide from people and love to educate people about the area. But work takes most of our time away from those “not” so abandoned buildings. There is still lots of life in them and we spend every second we can there. Thank you for posting the wonderful pictures.

Hi Joshua,
Found this post when researching a quick trip through your area this coming weekend. We are from central BC, and are taking part in a US-Canadian “scavenger hunt” (the Moss Motoring Challenge) and are looking for interesting locations to document – we thought Nighthawk would make a fantastic entry. Wondering if it would be okay to stop and take a picture or two – from the photos shared here it looks really interesting. Sounds like you are okay with quiet “tourist” visitors stopping to look over the fence for a minute or two?